https://quillandparchment.com/archives/April2026/ment.htmlTo My Mentor, William Marr
–On his 90th Birthday
by Bing Hua [USA]
Translation by William Marr [USA]
Like a swift horse,
you have run across ninety years of life.
Like a bird,
you bravely fly out of The Birdcage.
“With the left foot, ten years;
with the right foot, another ten years”–
like A Homesick Drunkard,
you have walked through your ninth decade,
stepping into the tenth.
“The King of Short Poems”–
a hundred years of life,
a thousand poems.
A nuclear engineer turned poet,
your pen name outweighs your given name.
Building Bridges across countless sentient beings–
your poems bear witness.
September 3, 2025,
marks your ninetieth birthday.
Your eldest disciple, Bing Hua,
wishes my teacher a long and healthy life,
and the poetic spirit live on forever.
Waking up in the morning,
you gaze through the Autumn Window at abundant fruits.
In the afternoon, sip a cup of Kungfu Tea.
In the evening, turn on the Television to see the world,
then return to carve the Unfinished Statue.
*Words in bold characters are some of his well-known poems.
